T he C olumbia P ress
1
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C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper
www.thecolumbiapress.com
Voters to decide
two city seats,
several ballot
measures
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
The filing period is open on two
Warrenton City Commission spots
and Clatsop County voters also will
decide at least seven ballot measures
in the November general election.
Warrenton’s voters will decide
who’ll be mayor and who will fill
commission Position 4.
Henry Balensifer, 29, first was
elected to the City Commission when
he was 23. He was appointed to the
mayor’s post by fellow commission-
ers in June 2017 after Mark Kujala
resigned the post.
Voters will decide whether he
should remain mayor for the first
time in November.
“Going from commissioner to may-
or is actually quite a leap and a bit
of a learning curve for me,” Balen-
See ‘Election’ on Page 4
August 10, 2018
Vol. 2, Issue 32
Brownie troop’s good deed benefits local seniors
The Columbia Press
A local Brownie troop picked up
the tab Monday for seniors having
lunch at Warrenton Community
Center.
The girls donated $250 to cov-
er that day’s meals. The money
was a portion of what they’d raised
through Girl Scout Cookie sales.
The troop also gave everyone hav-
ing lunch a box of Girl Scout Cookies
and they stayed to mingle with the
seniors, giving both a positive inter-
generational moment, senior corre-
spondent Emma Edwards said.
The girls all enter third grade next
month.
New members are always wel-
come, said Cindy Peel and Shawn
Ford, leaders of Warrenton Troop
12491.
Girl Scouts is open to those in kin-
dergarten through high school and
the organization focuses on building
young people of courage, confidence
Emma Edwards/The Columbia Press
and character.
Cashier Donna Searle receives a donation Monday from Girl Scout Brown-
To join or to find more informa- ie Troop 12491 in Warrenton. The girls are (left to right) Caitlyn Crist, Lacey
tion, go online to joingirlscouts.org. Miller, Lilly Peel and Autumn Niehuser.
Drunk driver crashes into downtown restaurant
The Columbia Press
El Compadre Restaurant on
Main Avenue sustained major
damage early Tuesday when a
suspected drunken driver in a
stolen car lost control and drove
into the back of the building.
The driver, Jonathan Cody My-
ers, 32, of Warrenton, was arrest-
ed and booked at Clatsop County
Jail for driving under the influ-
The back wall of El Compadre
Mexican Restaurant sustained
major damage in the early Tuesday
morning crash.
Photo from El Compadre’s Facebook page
ence of intoxicants, unauthorized
use of a motor vehicle, reckless
driving and reckless endanger-
ment of his passenger.
His blood-alcohol level was re-
corded at 0.21 percent, more than
2 ½ times the legal limit.
A 16-year-old male passenger
was injured and taken to Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital.
The driver, who lives near the
restaurant, was headed west on
Southwest First Street about 1:30
a.m. when he made a high-speed
left turn into the alley that runs
behind the restaurant and lost
control, striking the building, ac-
cording to a police report.
Restaurant Manager Maria
Avelar was notified of the crash
during the night.
When she arrived, she found
a car-shaped hole in the cement
brick wall at the back of the build-
ing.
Family members and helpers
put up a temporary wall and the
restaurant was open for Tuesday
dinner service.
Myers’ driver’s license previous-
ly had been suspended.
Officers administered field so-
briety tests and observed an odor
of alcohol and slurred speech at
the scene, according to the re-
port.